Pragmatic
adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A man of business.
- 2 an imperial decree that becomes part of the fundamental law of the land wordnet
- 3 A busybody.
- 4 A public decree.
- 1 Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.
"The sturdy furniture in the student lounge was pragmatic, but unattractive."
- 2 Philosophical; dealing with causes, reasons, and effects, rather than with details and circumstances; said of literature.
"Polybius’s pragmatic history is simply the history of affairs, as distinguished from the descriptive and often poetical character which much history before his time had."
- 3 Interfering in the affairs of others; officious; meddlesome. obsolete
- 1 concerned with practical matters wordnet
- 2 guided by practical experience and observation rather than theory wordnet
- 3 of or concerning the theory of pragmatism wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"I have been told that I am pragmatic, and I am."
Etymology
From Middle French pragmatique, from Late Latin pragmaticus (“relating to civil affair; in Latin, as a noun, a person versed in the law who furnished arguments and points to advocates and orators, a kind of attorney”), from Ancient Greek πραγματικός (pragmatikós, “active, versed in affairs”), from πρᾶγμα (prâgma, “a thing done, a fact”), in plural πράγματα (prágmata, “affairs, state affairs, public business, etc.”), from πράσσω (prássō, “to do”) (whence English practical).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.